Everyone was quietly roasting flatbreads when suddenly, the barking of a dog and the whimpering of puppies came from Wang Daniu’s house.

“Wuwu… Grandma, please don’t kill Dahuang! Without Dahuang, the puppies will die,”

Er Niu’s crying voice was especially clear in the night.

Upon hearing it, Xiao Yu immediately ran over to see what was happening.

Since they were neighbors, the two children had grown up together and often played with each other—they were very good friends.

That’s why, upon hearing Er Niu’s cries, Xiao Yu hurried over.

Before long, the little girl came back, pouting.

Shen Qingwan saw her unhappy expression and asked, “What’s wrong? Is Er Niu okay?”

“Mother, Grandma Wang wants to kill Dahuang for meat. Dahuang just gave birth to many puppies, but Grandma Wang said she’s going to throw them away.”

Hearing this, Shen Qingwan sighed and gently patted the little girl’s head. “Grandma Wang’s family doesn’t have much food left. Keeping Dahuang and the puppies means more mouths to feed. But now, grain is so precious that even people can’t get enough to eat—let alone dogs. It’s pitiful, but compared to human lives, dogs are insignificant. Grandma Wang wants to kill Dahuang to survive.”

Shen Qingwan was not a saint.

She liked the loyalty of dogs, but if she were in a desperate situation, she would also choose to eat a dog.

Xiao Yu nodded but still had tears welling up in her eyes. “Mother, do you remember the time I got stuck in the rocks? It was Dahuang who found me with Er Niu. If it weren’t for Dahuang, I would have died on the mountain.”

Shen Qingwan frowned as that memory suddenly surfaced in her mind.

When she remembered it, she almost wanted to drag her past self out and give her a beating.

In her previous memories, she had deliberately tricked Xiao Yu into going up the mountain, telling her there were mushrooms there.

In truth, she had hoped the girl would either get eaten by wild animals or simply die up there—so that she wouldn’t be a burden anymore.

After Xiao Yu went up the mountain, she didn’t return for a long time. It was only thanks to Wang Daniu, who carried her back covered in wounds, that she survived.

That day, Wang Daniu had taken Er Niu and Dahuang up the mountain to collect firewood.

It was Dahuang who first discovered Xiao Yu trapped in the rocks and then called Er Niu and Wang Daniu over to save her.

Shen Qingwan gently stroked Xiao Yu’s head, her heart softening.

This child had a kind heart.

Forget it—Dahuang had once saved Xiao Yu’s life.

She would return the favor.

Besides, having a dog with them on their journey might be helpful.

She remembered last time when the refugees tried to steal from them—it was Dahuang’s bark that woke her up.

“Come, let’s go save Dahuang,”

Shen Qingwan took Xiao Yu’s hand and walked toward Wang Daniu’s house.

Over there, because her granddaughter had been holding her back, Wang Daniu still hadn’t brought herself to kill Dahuang.

The village of Dahe had very few dogs left.

When bandits raided the village, most of them were killed—only Dahuang survived.

This dog was very intelligent.

Moreover, since it had just given birth, Wang Daniu had been reluctant to kill it and had brought it along.

But as their journey continued, their food supply dwindled.

The dog had become nothing but skin and bones, and the puppies were constantly crying from hunger.

Even if they didn’t throw them away, they wouldn’t survive—Dahuang had no milk left, and they had no extra food to feed them.

“Mother, how about throwing the puppies away but keeping Dahuang?” Lu Dachuan suggested, seeing his daughter crying so pitifully.

Chen Zhaodi glared at her husband and huffed, “The children don’t understand, but you should! Keeping Dahuang means another mouth to feed. We don’t have extra food for a dog. If we kill it now, we can still get some meat. If we wait until it’s nothing but bones, even killing it won’t give us much. Just look at the children—aren’t they starving? At least eating Dahuang would give them some nourishment.”

At first, Goudan didn’t want his grandmother to kill Dahuang either.

But when he heard he could eat meat, his eyes lit up, and he immediately stopped pleading for the dog. His mouth even started watering at the thought.

Lu Dachuan shrank his neck after his wife’s scolding and dared not say another word.

Lu Xingwang, seeing the family arguing endlessly over a dog, made the final decision. “At a time like this, we can’t even take care of ourselves—how can we care about a dog? Either we kill it for food, or if you really can’t bear to, we trade it for grain. At least that way, we won’t have to do it ourselves.”

Hearing this, everyone fell silent. Er Niu sobbed, but she didn’t dare argue with her grandfather.

“Second Uncle, Second Aunt,”

Shen Qingwan walked over and greeted them. Lu Xingwang nodded at her and said, “Wenzhao’s wife, what brings you here? Come, have a seat.”

Wang Daniu quickly invited her over as well.

Shen Qingwan didn’t refuse and found a wooden block to sit on.

“I heard from Xiao Yu that you’re planning to throw away the puppies, so I came to ask if you could give them to me instead. I’ll trade you some grain for them.”

She didn’t bring up the fact that they were about to kill Dahuang.

Upon hearing that she wanted the puppies, Lu Xingwang immediately agreed.

“If you want them, just take them. We wouldn’t ask for your grain. We were going to throw them away anyway. We simply can’t afford to raise them. The children in our family are already starving—how could we spare food for dogs? Your second aunt was about to butcher Dahuang because we have no other choice. If we don’t eat it now, it’ll be too skinny to eat later.”

Lu Xingwang sighed, looking over at Dahuang, who was still nursing her puppies.

Dahuang seemed to understand the conversation and whimpered softly, as if pleading.

The puppies kept nuzzling against Dahuang’s belly, but there was no milk.

They cried out in hunger.

“Second Uncle, how about selling Dahuang and the puppies to me? I’ll give you thirty pounds of coarse rice.”

Dahuang was already skin and bones.

After skinning and boning, there wouldn’t be much meat left.

Trading it for thirty pounds of grain was definitely a good deal. In the village, dogs weren’t worth much—especially puppies, which were often given away for free.

But in times of famine, dog meat was still meat. Thirty pounds of grain was a fair trade.

“That won’t do. Even a grown person isn’t worth thirty pounds of grain. How could I take that much for a dog? If you can take care of them, we’d be grateful. If we weren’t out of food, we wouldn’t kill Dahuang. Just give me ten pounds of grain, and you can take Dahuang and the puppies.”

He hadn’t forgotten how, in Changping County, human traffickers only traded a half-grown child for ten pounds of grain.

A dog wasn’t worth as much. If they weren’t starving, he wouldn’t have asked for anything at all.